Sensitive and talented, Marc Andre is one of the few classical musicians to have chosen the double bass as a solo instrument, bringing it out of the orchestral ranks and into the spotlight. Playing a modified double bass - with a sound closer to that of a cello - for this debut album, Marc has chosen an eclectic program spanning eras and styles. From well-known melodies by Gluck to Piazzolla, with Tchaikovsky in between, the repertoire showcases the instruments full expressive range in arrangements for piano and double bass. Marc is also accompanied on two tracks by the guitarist Gabriel Bianco.

3ELEMENTS: CONVERSATIONS OF HOPE

With his powerful voice and unmistakable stage presence, Anthony Clark Evans presents a dazzling panorama of the great 19th-century baritone repertoire on this recording. The program ranges from the passionate drama of Italian verismo to the elegance of French opera and the exalted sound world of Richard Wagner. Evans opens with Leoncavallo's famous Prologue from Pagliacci, a programmatic manifesto of verismo, and continues with Giordano's searing denunciation "Nemico della patria" from Andrea Chenier and Puccini's dark scene from Il Tabarro. Donizetti and Offenbach provide melodic refinement and brilliant color from the Italian and French traditions, while Thomas's drinking song from Hamlet adds charm and lightness. Particular highlights are the Wagner arias - the intimate "Song to the Evening Star" from Tannhauser and the great scene of the Dutchman - where Evans's voice reveals both lyrical depth and dramatic radiance. The program concludes with central Verdi roles, from Rigoletto to Il Trovatore and Luisa Miller, showcasing the full range of Italian bel canto drama.

APHORISMEN

BEST LAID PLANS

THAT WHICH IS PLACED UPON THE ALTAR

MEMENTO

If music... showcases star countertenor Jakub Jozef Orlinski in 17 songs and arias by three composers of the Baroque era: Purcell, Handel and Fux. Perhaps unexpectedly, he is partnered not by an ensemble of period instruments but by a pianist - his long-standing colleague Michal Biel. "On this album we have combined arias and songs that inspire and speak to us, " says Jakub Jozef Orlinski. "I love thinking of albums as pages out of my diary. They are a statement of where I am as an artist." As Michal Biel, who draws on all the possibilities of a Steinway grand piano, freely admits: "If music... is not an answer to the question of how to perform these masterpieces with historical authenticity." He sees each aria or song as "a carefully considered transcription that reveals it's appeal transcending instrumentation".

Every new release from Quinsin Nachoff is a headline event, a radical combining and recombining of sonic and conceptual innovations, ever-evolving textures, powerful melodies and rhythms, that always open up new vistas for exploration while clearly marking the way back to what has come before. The album Patterns from Nature is an unashamedly ambitious showcase for his remarkable abilities as a composer and orchestrator, working within the space where the heartfelt collaborative improvisation of jazz meets the adventurous rigor of contemporary music and the depth and complexity of conceptual art. As composer, Nachoff created the closely written, intricately detailed scores for a pair of large-ensemble pieces. As bandleader, he oversaw the realisation of those scores by a hand-picked team of remarkable genre-crossing musicians, including pianist Matt Mitchell, percussionist Satoshi Takeishi, bassist Carlo de Rosa, clarinetist Francois Houle, trombonist Ryan Keberle, and the internationally renowned Molinari String Quartet, supported by a large chamber ensemble conducted by JC Sanford. As interdisciplinary collaborator, he worked with physicist Dr. Stephen Morris, whose research into emergent patterns in nature informed the project's structural concepts, and four filmmakers - Tina de Groot, Lee Hutzulak, Gita Blak, and Udo Prinsen - originally conceived alongside them for a multimedia version of the work, resulting in the titular Patterns from Nature suite of four contrasting movements that engage the listener at every level.

Shye Ben Tzur/Jonny Greenwood/The Rajasthan Express -"Ranjha" / Ranjha is the collaboration between award-winning composer and Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood, celebrated composer/musician Shye Ben-Tzur, and the Indian ensemble, the Rajasthan Express. The album is a follow-up to their acclaimed 2015 debut, Junun. While Junun was recorded in a makeshift studio within the 15th-century Mehrangarh Fort in Rajasthan, India, Ranjha was created in a more intimate setting - Jonny Greenwood's studio in Oxford, England. The album features 11 new tracks, blending the group's signature cross-cultural sound with a contemporary edge. CD in 4-panel Digisleeve with photo/lyric booklet included.

SOLAR

TEMPUS

The Soul Stirrers - Never Turn Back: The Singles Collection 1940-49 / The Soul Stirrers were one of the most noted gospel groups of the post-war decades, although they were formed as long ago as the 1930s, becoming one of the innovative groups during the 1940s who moved from the traditional "flatfooted" highly arranged quartet style towards the freer "hard gospel" style of the new era. They are perhaps most famous for the period during the 1950s when the future soul legend Sam Cooke was with the group and got a hugely significant grounding the business, but among cognoscenti they are equally renowned for this period, when their lead singer was Rebert "R.H." Harris, who introduced the "swing lead" style as two singers exchanged lead vocals to build emotional intensity. This 48-track 2-CD collection comprises releases on the Bronze, Down Beat, Harlem and 20th Century labels during this era followed by most of their substantial body of recordings made for the Aladdin label from 1947 to 1949 before they joined the Specialty label, and were joined by Sam Cooke. They were one of the most influential gospel groups of the day and this collection offers, we hope, a substantial, inspiring and uplifting showcase for their bold and distinctive approach to gospel music during what was a golden era for the genre.

SOUL KING OF BESSEMER, AL

Parnassus is proud to present a new collection of first commercial releases of spectacular live performances from pianist Sviatoslav Richter. Taken from recordings made by audience members and live broadcast sources, and now remastered and restored by Gene Gaudette of Urlicht Audiovisual, Richter Supreme is a must-have collection for Richter fans. Devotees of Richter know that even he had those supreme moments in which he exceeded his extremely high standards. When producer Leslie Gerber listened to the centerpiece of this recording, a recital at Hunter College, New York in 1965, he was convinced that this performance qualified as "Richter Supreme". Throughout the performance of works by Schubert, Brahms, Debussy, Ravel, Prokofieff, and Rachmaninoff, the listener experiences Richter at the very height of his powers, technical prowess allied to the most penetrating musical interpretation. This concert may not introduce any new Richter repertoire, but gives us the opportunity to listen in on a master musician at the height of his powers. Completing the set are two further rarities: a 1988 Tokyo performance of Hindemith's ferocious Suite '1922', which shows Richter bringing out all the music's challenging qualities, and building the finale to an apocalyptic frenzy unlike his earlier studio recordings, and an early 1958 Budapest broadcast of the Bartok Second Piano Concerto with the Hungarian State Orchestra under Janos Ferencsik. A treasurable document of greatness.

COME TO ME

Unspoken explores the piano-duet repertoire as a space of intimacy and shared imagination. Pianists Wu Qian and Juho Pohjonen present a program that moves between intimate lyricism and virtuosic display, centred on works for piano four hands. At it's heart are the two major duets by Felix Mendelssohn, framed by a striking rediscovery: the Sonata in F major by Sophia Maria Westenholz, whose bold harmonic language and orchestral sweep bridge Classical clarity and early Romantic ambition. The program is completed by the characterful four-hand writing of Cecile Chaminade and Amy Beach, offering contrasting worlds of colour, scene and poetic miniature. Recorded with warmth and clarity, Unspoken reflects the piano duet at it's most intimate: two musicians sharing a single instrument.

Mozart composed the concerto for two pianos in 1779, and performed it with his sister Nannerl. It is a less adventurous work than the previous concerto, No.9 K271, but it is an altogether more successful work than No.7 for three pianos K242, which the composer arranged for two pianos. It is brilliant in nature, especially the finale. It foreshadows in places the great Sinfonia Concertante K364, but does not match the grandeur of that work. No.24 K491 from 1786 is one of the greatest of Mozart's concertos. The dark, turbulent and tragic mood undoubtedly had an influence on Beethoven's C minor concerto.

MOTHERLOAD

Fazil Say brings together two, highly contrasted Viennese piano sonatas, composed at either end of the Romantic era. Conceived on an epic scale in four movements, Schubert's Sonata in B flat major was written shortly before his death in 1828, while in 1909 Alban Berg ushered in Modernism with his opus 1, the compact, haunting Piano Sonata in B minor. "Schubert was only thirty when he died," writes Fazil Say. "There is unique depth of sorrow and melancholy here, the pain of parting from this world. At the same time, we feel Schubert's joy of life, his vitality, his attachment, his passion, even his defiance." While the Schubert sonata is a recent addition to Say's repertoire, he explains that "I first encountered Alban Berg's piano sonata at the age of 15, and I performed it as a student in Ankara... he became one of the main figures who opened the door for me to contemporary music... His opus 1, while anchored in B minor, sails boldly toward atonality and modern expression... The piano is used almost orchestrally, full of colour and intensity. It is a remarkably beautiful piece."

Gregory Hutchinson's "Kind of Now - The Pulse of Miles Davis" is a fascinating and highly rewarding album that breathes new life into some of the immortal classics from Miles Davis' repertoire, such as Charlie Parker's "Ah-Leu-Cha" or Miles' own "Seven Steps to Heaven", discounting the obvious while closing in on the deep cuts. The leader's excellent drum interludes tie this hour-long program tightly together, adding a futuristic newness that's all in Hutch's time. The overall quality and density of "Kind of Now" has everything to do with the musicians involved, a great group of young legends and lions carefully selected by the leader, just the way Miles used to do: Ambrose Akinmusire (trumpet), Ron Blake (tenor saxophone, bass clarinet), Jakob Bro (guitar), Emmanuel Michael (guitar), Gerald Clayton (piano) Joe Sanders (double bass).

The Big Band of the Deutsche Oper Berlin is celebrating it's 20th anniversary and dedicating itself to French jazz. During the German occupation, it stood for freedom and resistance, and in the post-war period it became the soundtrack of existentialism and an expression of the attitude to life of an entire generation. In the nightclubs of Saint-Germain-des-Pres, musicians such as Miles Davis and Sidney Bechet met Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, and Boris Vian. For many jazz musicians from the USA, Paris became a place of longing beyond racial segregation and the McCarthy era. The Deutsche Oper Berlin Big Band celebrates the spirit of those years with music by Michel Legrand, Jacques Brel, Boris Vian, and Django Reinhardt.

GOODBYE STRAWBERRY HILL

With his self-titled new album-out May 8 on Candid Records-Grammy-winning guitarist, producer, and songwriter Matthew Stevens delivers a definitive midcareer mission statement. Long recognized as one of the most thrilling and thoughtful guitarists of his generation, Stevens has built an elite reputation in music, touring and recording with a "who's who" of modern icons, including Esperanza Spalding, Christian Scott Atunde Adjuah, Harvey Mason, and Walter Smith III. On this new release, Stevens steps fully into the spotlight, performing at the absolute peak of his powers. The music seamlessly melds acoustic and electric sonics through a mix of genre-blurring originals and deeply personal covers. The album features a multigenerational cast of musicians, including mentors like Terri Lyne Carrington, personal guitar heroes like Jeff Parker, and rising visionaries such as vibraphonist Joel Ross and vocalists Anna B Savage and Corey King. Co-produced by Stevens alongside Josh Johnson and Eric Doob, the record is the culmination of 20 years of craft. It reflects a period of profound personal and artistic change, ultimately bringing Stevens to "a place of optimism, excitement, and confidence" that signals a bold new chapter for one of jazz's most essential voices.

Vinyl LP pressing. Aficionados of Doo-wop will have long been acquainted with the heavenly harmonies of Johnny Maestro and The Crests, and yet this sublime group has often been overlooked in retrospectives of the genre. Ground-breaking from the very start, this was the first racially-mixed group to hit the big time. Their hits included uptempo pop songs, to dreamily-rendered love ballads, and they enjoyed significant success in the late 1950s and early 1960s. However, theirs is a story of a band ahead of it's time, in a country that was much divided in terms of race and ethnicity, and it was this that ultimately led to it's demise. This stunning collection showcases the talents of Johnny Maestro and The Crests; classic songs, effortless harmonies, possessing a rare timeless quality that still sound fresh today. This sumptuous collection features 18 of their most beloved and beautiful releases when at the height of their fame including the huge singles "Sixteen Candles", "Sweetest One", "The Angel Listened In", "Trouble In Paradise" and the timeless "I'll Remember (In The Still Of The Night".